Smitherman tops fundraising in west Jefferson

State Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, has raised more money than any legislative candidate in west­ern Jefferson County this year, accord­ing to campaign finance reports filed by last week's deadline.

Smitherman, who represents Senate District 18 and who is the current pres­ident pro tem of the Senate, added $131,850 in contributions in this re­porting period to his re-election fund and now has $174,134 left in his war chest.Rodger SmithermanSmitherman's largest contributors were a political action committee ded­icated to the separation of church and state and a PAC run by lobbyists Joe Fine and Bob Geddie, each of which gave $15,000.

Smitherman's opponent, former state Sen. Fred Horn, did not report any contributions or expenses meeting the reporting threshold.

In the race for Senate District 5, Re­publican Thad Turnipseed of Tusca­loosa raised more money than fellow Republican Greg Reed of Jasper in the most recent period, but Reed has more money in his account overall.

Turnipseed, the director of facilities for the University of Alabama, reported contributions totaling $32,240 since January, compared to $29,220 raised by Reed in the same period.

However, Reed, vice president of a medical equipment company and for­mer head of the state Republican Party, had $140,397 in campaign cash on hand, compared to $14,491 for Tur­nipseed. Reed received $9,900 in cam­paign money from PACs, while Tur­nipseed reported $5,000 from PACs.

The Republican campaign originally started as a three­man field, but Howard Gar­rison dropped out on April 13 due to health reasons.

On the Democratic side, Brett Wadsworth reported contributions of $1,750 and loaned his campaign $16,022.

In House District 15, Re­publican Allen Farley of Bessemer raised more money than current state Rep. Pat Moore, R-Pleasant Grove.

As of April 12, Farley had raised $19,591, compared to $1,000 for Moore during the same reporting period.

However, Moore retained a war chest of $49,014, while Farley had $13,166 on hand.

Farley's largest contribu­tion -- $5,000 -- came from his wife, Muriel Farley. He also received a $3,000 con­tribution from the Alabama Trucking Association PAC.

Moore started with a $62,250 balance and added one cash contribution of $1,000 from Fran Johnson of Vernon. She spent $14,236.

State Sen. Priscilla Dunn is far outpacing business­man Nathan Reed of Bir­mingham in fundraising for the Democratic primary for Senate District 19.

Dunn added $8,750 to a campaign balance of $53,058. Her new contribu­tions included $6,500 from political action committees, with the largest being $2,000 from a PAC run by lobbyists Joe Fine and Bob Geddie. Dunn has $54,809 remain­ing in her campaign fund. Reed raised $1,200 and spent $1,000, leaving him with a $200 balance.

State Rep. Cam Ward, R-­Alabaster, has raised $24,850 in cash during the last reporting period for his bid for the Senate District 14 seat.

As of April 19, Ward had a balance of $67,267.

Representatives John Rogers, Jr., D-Birmingham, and Lawrence McAdory, D-Bessemer, both reported deficits in their campaigns. Rogers Jr., collected $53,500 in contributions, far more than his Democratic oppo­nent in House District 52, Frederick Alexander of Bir­mingham.

But Rogers showed a deficit of $16,150.

Rogers received $10,000 from A-VOTE, the Alabama Education Association's PAC, and $7,500 from the Alabama Children's Educa­tion PAC.

Alexander raised $2,875 for his campaign fund over the same period, and re­ported $5,000 in loans from himself. He ended the pe­riod with $2,322.

McAdory raised more money than his competitors in the race for House Dis­trict 56. He reported contri­butions totaling $11,500, in­cluding $10,000 from a PAC run by the Alabama Educa­tion Association.

However, he began the reporting period with a campaign deficit of $16,350. He spent $18,947 and ended with a deficit of $23,797.

Lipscomb Mayor Melanie Bouyer, Bessemer business­woman Claire Mitchell and David Vance are opposing McAdory, who won the seat last year in a special election to replace Priscilla Dunn.

News staff writers Keysha Drexel and William Thorn­ton contributed to this arti­cle.